FROM NZ Football & WaiBOP Football Federation [March 18, 2020]

The club will provide further communication on Thursday March 19 regarding how these measures will impact football in Matamata over the next few weeks. 

Out of concern for our community’s health amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the community football season has been postponed until 2 May.

This difficult decision has been reached by NZ Football in agreement with the seven Federations, to help prevent community spread of COVID-19.

Measures being taken include:

  • Community football, including junior, youth, senior, social and regional competitions – all play postponed until 2 May.
  • Community futsal including junior, youth, senior and social competitions – all play postponed until May 2nd. The 2020 Secondary Schools Futsal Championships set for late March has been cancelled.
    Tertiary Futsal championships are postponed until a date to be confirmed, and all other competitions are being reviewed.
  • Workshops and courses- including coaching and refereeing courses postponed until after 2 May.
  • Meetings – all federation meetings postponed until further notice.

All training should be suspended until 18 April, or two weeks prior to the start of the season.

Recommendations around safe practice will be continue to be updated, aligning with Ministry of Health guidelines.

NZ Football updates will be posted at https://www.nzfootball.co.nz/covid19

Further to today’s message from NZ Football, WaiBOP Football would like to provide more detail to assist the sport’s stakeholders across our region.

  • Community football means everything except National leagues and Cup competitions
  • Registration: If you or any of your family member(s) intend to play football this season, but have yet to register for your local club, we recommend you proceed with your registration.
    • This will help your local club administrators prepare for the season ahead as they still need to organise and enter teams.
    • If you register too late you or your family member(s) may run the risk of missing out in a place in a team.
  • WaiBOP leagues & programmes: All futsal, coach education and skills centres are cancelled until May 2. These include:
  • Football: the start of the region’s senior and youth football leagues has been postponed until May 2.
    • We are looking at alternative playing formats for leagues, particularly seniors and youth, and will update clubs as we have that information.
    • Currently, Junior football is scheduled to begin no earlier than May 2.
    • We believe if we did start on May 2 we could complete the leagues. However, we are also investigating restructured options and formats that could work should there be a further delay.
  • Training: It is a recommendation that all training should be suspended until 18 April, or two weeks prior to the start of the season.
    • We realise, however, that this is ultimately a club/team decision. If your club, or any of your teams, wish to continue training during this period then we expect the participants to practice good hygiene as per the recommendations from the Ministry of Health. This includes:
      • Non-contact sessions.
      • Participants to bring their own drink bottle, that is regularly cleaned.
      • Participants to use separate bibs, that are washed after each session.
      • Soap and/or hand-sanitiser is available for participants to wash their hands.
      • If anyone associated with your club or organisation is feeling unwell, they should immediately self-isolate, refrain from all football activities straight away and seek medical advice by calling Healthline on 0800 611 116.
  • Clubs should be clear about their refund policy.
  • For information on Waikato Secondary Schools competitions, due to start on May 2, you should visit: http://www.wssfa.nz/.
  • We are checking in regularly with the other sports codes, NZ Football, other Federations and Health authorities and will keep you informed.

Further updates will be posted HERE.